The Claim:
A vocal Twitter user has taken to anti-vaccine Twitter to claim that COVID vaccines are causing Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.
The Facts:
Creutzfeldt-Jakob (CJD) is a brain disorder that causes mental deterioration and dementia, ending in death. While rare, there are about 350 cases in the US every year. This tweeter is pointing to 25 cases in 2023 and claiming them all to be caused by the vaccine without any evidence that any of these people received a vaccine. His claims about a rapid form of CJD being a new phenomenon are wrong since CJD is known to have cases with rapid onset, where death can occur within weeks.
This particular claim, however, stems from a paper by J. Bart Classen published in a non-peer review, for-profit, open-access journal that accepts any article along with payment.
Classen speculates that mRNA will trigger abnormally shaped proteins, becoming the basis for prion and other neurodegenerative
Disclaimer: Science is always evolving and our understanding of these topics may have evolved too since this was originally posted. Be sure to check out our most recent posts and browse the latest Just the Facts Topics for the latest.
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